aftermath of the earthquake in new zealand. how many aftershocks have they had? the channel 2 news at noon starts right now. good afternoon. at this hour, a fiery big rig crash has shut down part of the dumbarton bridge which connects the peninsula with the east bay. these are live pictures from newschopper where you can see the smoking remains of the big rig on the left side of your screen and a small, gray sedan on the right side, where it looks like firefighters are still hosing down some of the smoldering remains. we just got off the phone with the highway patrol. this is the latest information, just after 11:00 this morning, the truck smashed into the car midspan. both drivers were able to get -- get out safely. this is video after the

accident happened. the accident shut down both directions for a time. but then the highway patrol started to escort the traffic going westbound in one lane. all eastbound lane traffic is stopped and is being diverted from ravenswood and university. 40 minute the ago we brought you -- minutes ago, we brought you these pictures. the highway patrol says the sedan had broken down in the slow lane and the driver had got be out of the car. just two minutes later, the big rig crashed into the car. right now we have sal castanedo on the phone to give us more details on the traffic information. where are you, sal? >> reporter: we're on the bridge now, westbound. three lanes are open but they funneled down into one. you may or may not be seeing

that from newschopper2. we're at a standstill here. the traffic is not moving well at all, as you can imagine. eastbound, no traffic is getting through. at the toll plaza, for a while, they were, as you mentioned, holding traffic but they haven't done that. as a matter of fact, people who don't know about the accident might just drive on the bridge, it looks great torn a while and then you -- for a while and then you get on the bridge and it very much slows down. right now, i wouldn't recommend getting over the peninsula. obviously i see the flashing lights ahead and i see our newschopper2 there. no cars are getting by eastbound. >> here's not much of a backup westbound? you can go right through the toll plaza? >> yes, you can. but i would not recommend it. all you are gonna be doing is driving on the bridge and get stuck in a huge pile of traffic. all of the traffic has to whittle down to the far right

lane. chp on the computer system said they are looking to open two more lanes westbound in the next 20 or 30 minutes. i read that off the chp media screen. if they do that, this traffic will be better. obviously you can see what's going on and that may be a distraction of traffic as well. thank you, sal -- >> thank you, sal. we saw earlier on newschopper2, they can -- it looks like there's people getting out of their cars, just standing on the bridge. there you can see people there standing on the side of the bridge just waiting for it to clear. it looks like a chp officer. we will continue to follow this situation and bring you more details and have details at ktvu -- ktvu.com. in other news, a bay area family is mourning family members being killed by somali

pirates. scott and jet stream adams and phyllis mccay and rob riggle were killed. negotiations were underway to free the americans, something went wrong. shots went off. they boarded the yacht and found all hostages shot. four pirates were killed. >> there were two pirates that -- that were dead on board the vessel. as they were clearing it below decks, there were two more pirates killed in the clearing process by the boarding team. >> officials say in all, 19 somali pirates were involved in the hijacking. in addition to the four dead dead, 15 others are in custody. >> as we mentioned, one of the americans killed by the pie

ryecy has -- pirates has family, phyllis mccay is her aunt. jade hernandez has more. >> reporter: good afternoon. she describes her aunt -- she would always know what to do. >> if this was something that she was scared it, i don't think that she would do it. >> reporter: she asked for privacy. mccay's niece held up a picture of her aunt, mentor and told them the military took them informed after mccay was taken hostage. >> we understood if they got to shore, it was gonna be a really bad situation. we also understood the navy was doing their best to prevent them from shore. my aunt was not dead when the

navy arrived on the ship. she was not dead. they did try to save her but couldn't. >> reporter: the adams had been on "the quest" since 2004 sailing across the world. she said her aunt enjoyed the seas and sends her condolences to the other family. >> they know they are in our hearts and prayers. we're terribly distraught over this news this morning. >> reporter: she said she didn't know when her grandmother would be able to discuss her own daughter's death. she was so distraught. we watched the south san francisco rescue and ambulance respond before 9:00 this morning to the woman's home here in san francisco. jade hernandez, ktvu channel 2 news. >> thank you, jade. you can watch the entire news conference of the niece of phyllis mccay at ktvu.com. you can also read more about the tragedy on the high seas. grief counselors are at a

walnut creek high school today. students returned to class today for the first time since the death of two juniors. the two boys died on saturday while rafting on the creek named after the city. one student knew the teens and said it was an unexpected tragedy. >> they both teamed like it -- it was stuff they would do. just having fun and it wasn't what they planned at all. >> investigators say their tiny raft was no match for the dangerous fast-moving water. there will be a candlelight vigil for the teenager tomorrow night at 6:00 p.m. at shell creek where the two boys often hiked. turning now to the agonizing search for victims in new zee lan -- new zealand. a 6.3 quake hit christchurch.

there's widespread damage, including the city's iconic stone church. dozens of aftershocks have also hit the area. we spoke to a man in new zealand who described some of the chaos. >> took us about ten minutes to get out. everyone was exiting the city. the streets were just totally clogged with -- people didn't know which way to go, which way to turn. totally unreal. >> no one knows how many people are trapped. people have been heard screaming from inside collapsed buildings. one woman used her cell phone to say goodbye to her children. the official death toll is at 65 but new zealand suggesting the toll could bo go much -- could go much higher. many people in the bay area are paying close attention a half a

world away. kraig debro has more. >> reporter: good afternoon, tori. a leading seismologist at the building on the north side of campus, he said where this quake happened is known in the world of the world known as the ring of fire. it gets its name from earthquake activity along the circumference. what you might not know is the bay area and the whole western united states is also on that same ring. the earthquake, of course, caused so much death and devastating in -- devastation in christchurch. >> i still haven't heard from joe. >> reporter: mr. mckee broke up in new zealand. he's been practically grewed to his laptop since -- glued to his laptop since yesterday's quake. he says 65 are confirmed dead

and 40000 missing -- >> this is my cousin danny. we've currently retained power. at times scary stuff. >> reporter: earthquakes are not unheard of in christchurch but they are relatively rare. this map of the ring of fire shows all of the volcanic and seismic activity along the ring of fire. the eastern side of n ew zealand's southern island, where christchurch is located, shows no other major activity. >> you compare that against the seismic activity -- activities to the foothills of the sierra nevada, it would be a similar situation. >> reporter: just because the bay area is in the ring of fire doesn't mean we'll have the same type of seismic activity any time in the near future. >> we don't understand the

interactions. >> reporter: lester mckee's immediate family and extended family are all okay and accounted for. 83% of the world's seismic activity happens on the ring of fire. including-- get this -- 17 earthquakes of a magnitude earthquake 4.0 or higher just over the last 24 hours. reporting live in berkeley, ktvu channel 2 news. >> thank you, kraig. you will find full coverage of the new zealand quake on our website, ktvu.com. there are also tips on earthquake preparation and a survival kit you can use in a major quake hit the bay area. libyan leader, moammar gadhafi, is vowing to fight the last drop of blood as protesters continue their demands for his ouster. he addressed his nation on state tv in tripoli. it was bombed by the americans

and never repaired. he's cau -- calling on his supporters to go out in the street and support him. >> translator: i've paid the price of my remaining here, my grandfather has fell martyr in the war before. it's not possible that i leave this place. i i will be a martyr in the end. >> he told them he will not vow to what he calls a small sick group of outside instigators and is vowed to execute anyone cooperating with them. his proclamation follows two nights of unrest that left 250 dead. this is having an effect on oil prices. they are at a two-year high. others worry this could spread to other major oil producers. oils jumped to $95 a barrel. libya is the third largest oil

producer in africa. and in wall street, the traders worried the unrest would tread to other countries. protests are continuing in yemen and bahrain. right now, the dow is closest to its lowest point of the day, down 186. nasdaq is down 7 -- down 71. s&p down 7. is still to come -- a judge prepares to hear more testimony in a controversial plan to crack down on violent street gangs. we're still following that fiery crash in the dumbarton bridge. the eastbound direction is still close. these are live pictures of the crash. we'll have more ahead. it's actually nice outside right now with a lot of sunshine. but will it last? we'll have the forecast. i try to stay aware. it's pearl rimless out here 0

-- -- periless out here now.

today a judge will hear more testimony on oakland's controversial decision to prevent the gang medicals were hanging out in the neighborhood and there will be a tom p.m.

-- 10:00 p.m. curfew. oakland police are telling some grocery shoppers to be sure they are not followed home by robbers. they say there have en seven cases of robbery in the month involving a safeway store on redwood road in the oakland hills. they believe there are two men targeting mostly older women leaving the store alone and are being followed alone. one lieutenant deny es the report of a use of a weapon. he says one man approaches a woman in her driveway and takes her purse by force. about but no one has been hurt. >> i try to stay pretty aware. but yeah, it's heightened it definitely when i come over here. anywhere else i go, i try to stay aware. >> witnesses claim they saw the robbers bhi fern driving a

white suv. police believe they are young men in their teens or recally 20s. a decision by the san jose police department to redefine racial profiling gets the thumbs up from minority leaders. the department will now consider it a violation for a san jose police officer to show bias at any time during an encounter with the public. it used to be a considered a violation only if the officer initial ad contact -- initiated contact. this policy has been in effect since chief chris moore took over the job. he was accused of being involved in racial profiling.

the district has literally walked away from millions of dollars in savings that we offered at the bargaining table. millions of dollars in savings that could have already been realized they have walked away from. >> hundreds of school workers are planning a rally later around 5:00 p.m. prior to tonight's school board meeting. good afternoon. starting out with a shot of mount diablo where those snow- capped tops are actually seeing plenty of sunshine. we're dealing with plenty of sunshine here and we're enjoying it. a little warmer expected for today. we could turn a little breezy right along the coastline as well as the san francisco coast. afternoon highs anywhere from low, mid- to upper 50s. seasonal for it time of year. your satellite and radar showing you the storm that skirted the coast now out of -- out of our way and we have wall-

to-wall sunshine. afternoon sunshine. a little breezy. we'll see that with the ridge of high pressure checking in. santarosa, napa, a very chilly start but bouncing back pretty good. widespread upper 50s expected in the afternoon for today. we're looking at 57 degrees for fremont, 58 san mateo, upper 50s mountain view as well as los gatos. sanjose 5 the -- 59 for you this afternoon with plenty of sunshine. the five-day forecast is going to be a mild one, today, tomorrow. get out and enjoy it. big changes on the way. by thursday, scattered showers in the forecast. notice our afternoon highs begin to tumble moving into friday and saturday and the overnight lows, very, very cold. we've been talking about it this for a couple of days now. the storm dropping out of western canada can bring snow lefs even -- levels even lower than what we brought -- than

this weekend. saturday night looks like the best shot of getting snow at sea level. >> i saw that low at 29 degrees. thank you. there is a a three-dog limit for visitors. many people are ignoring the rule. the city council is considering implementing fines. >> i think some people might be overreacting to it. i think it's perfectly fine. >> the three-dog limit rule applies to six of the city's parks between 5:00 and 8 a.m. on weekdays and 5:00 a.m. to:00 a.m. on the weekend -- to 9:00 a.m. on the weekends. still ahead -- the problem on the dumbarton bridge, following a fiery crash late

this morning involving a big rig truck. and our perfect dream factory's been built. i'm feeling sleepy already. nighty night.

something we've not seen in a while. the dow is currently down 200 point, down 204. the big reason is the violent unrests happening in libya, a concern that could spread to

other oil countries in the region. the nasdaq is down almost 2 1 /2%. the s&p down 2%. so real concern hitting traders on wall street. we want to clarify -- we want to clarify one piece of information from the story we did earlier about the americans killed by pirates off somalia. we said an ambulance was sent to the peninsula home of the mother of phyllis mccay, one of the vicks vick -- victims. that information was not correct. let's go back to the dumbarton bridge. these are live pictures from newschopper2. there's traffic there starting to move just past the accident scene. sal castanedo is on the scene. and he says they just started to let eastbound traffic through. that's the traffic that's heading on the left side of our screen. the right side of the screen, westbound traffic has been going through for about an

hour. the eastbound traffic was stuck for over an hour, an hour and 20 minutes. ever since a big rig sharbed into is sedan -- big rig crashed into the sedan. both drivers managed to get out safely. the good news, there's no injuries. at this point, the crews are still trying to get the vehicles off the bridge. but the chp says the real challenge is to separate the vehicles. we'll give you updates all day and then we'll have a full report on the news at 5:00. that will do it for us. thanks for watching. have a great day.

♪ teacher, teacher, now we're back in school ♪ ♪ are you smarter than you used to be? ♪ foxworthy: hi, everybody, i'm jeff foxworthy, and welcome to "are you smarter than a 5th grader?" all right, kids, are you ready to meet your new classmate? [ classmates shouting "yeah!" ] he is a 30-year-old flute technician who attended holly avenue elementary school. please welcome ethan lin!